Lecture series in the planetarium at the Garching research campus
ESO Supernova: Kosmisches Kino
Event location
Campus Garching
Public event
Target audience
publically
Presenter
Dr. Stefan Gillessen
A gravitational monster lurks in the heart of our galaxy: a black hole that is four million times heavier than the Sun. We found it thanks to its enormous gravitational pull, which forces the stars in its vicinity into tight orbits. This stellar ballet is not only beautiful, it also tells us how gravity behaves in the immediate vicinity of a black hole.
How do you manage to get sharp images of dancing stars from the dust-covered centre of the Milky Way? The large telescopes in the Chilean Atacama Desert, which can see through dust clouds and compensate for the flickering of the Earth's atmosphere, provide the necessary image sharpness. With them, astronomers can determine star positions with an uncertainty that is smaller than a footprint on the Moon's dusty surface.
The spectacular measurements were honoured in 2020 with the Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez. But the case is by no means closed: observing a black hole is just too exciting. Will we ever see it rotate? What happens to gas clouds flying past it? And does Einstein's theory of gravity remain valid in view of the extreme forces?
Book your ticket now!
In this Kosmisches Kino, Stefan Gillessen from the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial physics takes us on a journey from the large telescopes in Chile to the centre of our galaxy.
This event is in German.
Further events
- 5/8/2025, 7 p.m. – Dr Frederick Groth (LMU) about TBA
- 6/12/2025, 7 p.m. – Stefan Heigl (LMU) about young stars
- 7/10/2025, 7 p.m. – Catarina Aydar (MPE) about supermassive black holes
- August – summer break
- 9/11/2025, 7 p.m. – Dr Francesca Capel (MPP) about astroparticles
- 10/9/2025, 7 p.m. – Dr. David Cont (LMU) about exoplanets
- 11/13/2025, 7 p.m. – Dr. Asmita Bhandare (LMU) about TBA
- 12/11/2025, 7 p.m. – Sophie Vogt (LMU) about TBA
Additional information
How to find us
- Location: Planetarium of the ESO Supernova, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, 85748 Garching
- GPS coordinates: 48° 15' 36.90" N; 11° 40' 15.16" E
The ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Center is located 2 km northeast of Garching and 15 km northeast of Munich on the grounds of the research center.
